Sunday, November 29, 2015

LEFC Family Advent Readings: Take Heart!John 16:33 :: November 29, 2015Week #1: A Candle of Lament

“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.

During this year’s Advent season, we will be reflecting on our Lord Jesus’ promise from the Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 33.

[READ JOHN 16:33 AND LIGHT FIRST CANDLE]

Our first candle is a candle of lament. To lament is to express grief and sadness because things are not as they should be.

Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble. Our world is deeply broken because of sin. When our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, our world went from “very good” to “cursed,” and now things are not as they should be. Terrorism, war, disasters, disease, pain, personal conflict, and persecution are just a few of the problems that we now confront in our broken world.

It is right and good and fitting for us to lament. The Bible encourages us to weep with those who weep. Our Lord Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. Followers of Christ know that things are not as they should be and that it is wrong to pretend that they are.

Yet we also know that the world will not always be broken. Jesus has overcome the world, and our sorrow will be turned to joy. But until that day, our joy is mixed with sadness.

May this first candle remind us trust God as we cry and long for the day when the blessings of Jesus’ victory are known “as far as the curse is found.”

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About Me

I'm the happy husband of Heather (a Proverbs 31 mega-woman!), the glad father of the Fab Four (Robin, Andrew, Peter, and Isaac), the joyful pastor of Lanse Evangelical Free Church, a district leader in the awesome Allegheny District of the EFCA, book review coordinator of EFCA Today, and the author of a book on Resisting Gossip (CLC Publications, September 2013).

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Content:

Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed on Hot Orthodoxy are my own and not that of Lanse Free Church or anyone else. I am accountable to the elders and congregation of LEFC, but they don't necessarily agree with every single thing I think (and that's a healthy thing). I always say, "I have a million opinions, and they are free to the public!"

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Many of the books reviewed on Hot Orthodoxy have been given to me by publishers and authors. I've never been asked to produce a favorable review in exchange for the book, and if they did, I wouldn't publish a review.